Honda 2008 MX

Published: 09th October 2007

Author: Tony Marshall

Tora! Tora! Tora! Honda prepare for an all-out assault on the 2008 MX season with a pair of much-modified fighting thumpers

With a bike in their arsenal that’s as dominant as the all-conquering CRF450 is it’s little wonder that Honda have been daring enough to drop all the two-strokes from their range of full-size motocross bikes for 2008. Winning four of the last five British MX1 championships as well as a skittering of GPs and countless club and centre races, the bigger bore CRF is without doubt the stand-out model of the Honda range.

Of course, the 450’s kid brother is no slouch either with 35-year-old Mike Brown taking one of the twin-pipers – albeit a highly modified one – to Honda’s first major MX2 championship title since the CRF250 was unleashed in 2004 in the Maxxis British championships this year. While the 250 hasn’t yet shared all the success of its beefier sibling, constant development work has created a bike that on paper at least is way better than its predecessor.

While the 2008 CRFs – and indeed their street-legal cousin the CRF250X (more about that later) – may not look much different to this year’s offerings there are in fact quite a few changes and modifications lurking within.

Aside from the striking new graphics and works-style brake discs both motocross bikes have been fitted with Honda Progressive Steering Dampers which are safely hidden behind the front number board. Honda America have been testing the dampers since 2004 in AMA supercross and it’s claimed that both bikes when fitted with the HPSD unit offer a higher level of front-end traction which results in a more planted feel in corners.

And because the damper also helps increase high speed stability Honda have been able to change fork offset from 24 to 22mm – a modification most serious racers have been carrying out for years by fitting aftermarket triple clamps in order to get the CRF to turn sharper.

The 450 gets suspension mods too and a new tapered exhaust header pipe promises to improve low to mid-end power while a multi-map CDI system provides specific ignition maps for each of the five gears meaning optimum power and drive is delivered right through the range right up to the new RPM limit of 11,270!

While power has never really been an issue for the 450, the 250 has been seriously slated in the past for being way too slow especially when compared to powerhouse classmates like the KTM 250SX-F. Luckily the motor on the 250 has had a whole bunch of newness chucked in its direction for ’08…

A new piston which increases the compression ratio from 12.9:1 to 13.1:1, new cylinder head porting, new lighter valve train components, a new exhaust as well as new cam timing promises to beef up the power output as well as the maximum RPM to 13,500. With maximum torque now found around 8,500 RPM it would appear that Honda have tried to create a livelier, harder revving motor to try and keep up with their competition.

One of Honda’s biggest strengths over the years has been the quality of componentry and build. Honda CRFs come stock with Renthal 971 bend handlebars, decent grips, Dunlop 742A (front) and 756 (rear) tyres, a front brake disc guard and excellent dual-stage foam airfilters. It’s very fair to say that you can take a Honda from the showroom floor, slap some numbers on and go race it the very next day – they’re that solid!

For the past few years Honda’s European launch has seemed to be on sand tracks which can make it hard to get a real feel for the power and handling of a bike especially when you’re trying to ride ’em around Lierop the day after the Dutch GP! For the ’08 launch Honda are a little kinder to us test riders and we have the pleasure of riding the new bikes around the awesome British GP track at Donington Park.

With the big deal on the ’08s being the steering damper I was a little disappointed not to be able to tell it was fitted when I turned the handlebars slowly to one side with the bike on a stand. However, shake the bars from side to side in a I’m-riding-a-500-two-stroke-on-a-rough-ass-track-and-getting-serious-amounts-of-tankslap stylee and you can really start to feel it.

Out on the track you never really notice that resistance but you can tell that the front end on both bikes feels way more planted in turns. That more planted feeling is down to the bike’s new 22mm fork offset rather than the HPSD – it’s not uncommon for bikes with such steep steering angles to handle like horse crap at high speed. The new Hondas don’t and that’s how I can be sure that the HPSD works.

There’s little point going on about the shifting and braking characteristics – we’re talking about Hondas here and the red brand has had those departments spot on for years. The riding position is equally as outstanding on both bikes and the handlebars have a good neutral bend.

The suspension seems better on next year’s bikes than it has done in the past. As the track got rougher nearer the end of the day and I got more confident on the jumps the suspension on both bikes felt sweeter and sweeter.

During my initial laps on the 250F the track was quite slippery and coming into some of the turns it felt like I was riding on marbles. Despite the dodgy conditions the bike handled superbly holding its line well wherever I put it.

There are some really big jumps on the Donington track with some seriously hard landings in store if you don’t get them quite right. As you can guess I had quite a few heavy landings while I was dialing the jumps in but the suspension seemed to take it all quite well and didn’t make me pay for any of my mistakes so all is good there.

The motor on the ’08 250F seems less easy to over-rev than past models and even when I did rev the motor too hard the power didn’t drop off as much as previous models have. The bottom-end seems better too – the bike is very responsive out of turns and the power feels stronger right through the range.

It’s hardly a secret that 450 four-strokes have never been a bike I’ve put my name down to ride in a rush as I feel that I’m more of a 125 specialist. However, this new 450 Honda goes a long way towards changing the way I feel about them.
With the much sweeter handling and turning chassis and an even further improved power delivery this bike is by far the best Honda 450 ever built – and that’s saying something. Thanks to the all-new multi-mapped ignition the engine seems to respond exactly how I want it to and when I open the throttle quickly the engine responds instantaneously with a hard but very controllable burst of power.
For Honda to have improved the power delivery and handling package of what’s already considered to be a very effective motocross weapon is quite amazing and if the other major manufacturers want to compete with Big Red then they’d best have something very special lined up.

Specifications
CRF250
Capacity: 249.4cc
Bore and stroke: 78mm x 52.2mm
Transmission: Five-speed
Carburettor: 40mm Keihin FCR
Front suspension: 47mm USD Showa (315mm travel)
Rear suspension: Pro-Link/Showa (313mm)
Front brake: 240mm disc
Rear brake: 240mm disc
Wheelbase: 1477mm
Seat height: 965mm
Kerb weight: 101.2kg

Specifications
CRF450
Capacity: 449cc
Bore and stroke: 96mm x 62.1mm
Transmission: Five-speed
Carburettor: 41mm Keihin FCR
Front suspension: 47mm USD Showa (315mm travel)
Rear suspension: Pro-Link/Showa (320mm)
Front brake: 240mm disc
Rear brake: 240mm disc
Wheelbase: 1489mm
Seat height: 955mm
Kerb weight: 109kg

For our full test – plus Geoff Walker’s verdict on the CRF250X – don’t miss our November issue, on sale October 12…